Tuesday, January 27, 2009

John Rolodex is one of Canada’s leading drum and bass artists and represents the cutting edge of modern music. He has headlined events across Europe and North America including New York, Los Angles, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, London, Copenhagen, Budapest, Oslo and Munich. He is know for his diverse production and has released music on some of the most prestigious record labels in the industry including Metalheadz, Dread Recordings, Freak, and Tech Itch. John’s DJ skills are legendary for both mixing and selection, providing audiences with a wide array of both classics and the newest and freshest, blended together in a truly unique and masterful wall of sound. READ MORE

The internet is full of bad tutorials on mastering this is a good starting point. In coming weeks I will be posting tutorial videos from my mastering class at Toronto's best mastering facility. To hold you over until then here's something decent on the elusive art/skill of mastering. From good ol' Youtube.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Interview from Deepersounds...Deepersounds caught up with legendary producer Dev Pandya, wider known as Paradox, but equally respected under his Alaska guise. We get the lowdown on what the coming year has in store for Alaska and the exciting Arctic Music imprint.

Deepersounds - First of all, let’s start with the history of your Alaska alias. Fill us in on the concept and how it all began.

Alaska - The Alaska sound began in 1995 as Good Looking Records was influencing me in the studio with so many seminal ambient releases and at the time I felt that I couldn’t release ambient jungle tracks under the Paradox name. Myself and DJ Trax were attending the legendary ‘Speed’ club night every week in London, where Bukem & Fabio were residents and it was there that I got to know the Speed founder and promoter Leo who approached me with an idea to start a ‘Speed’ label. In 1996, I released two 12″s on Speed’s offshoot label Intercity Records plus Alaska releases on Renegade Recordings and our own label Offsett. These three 12″s alerted Good Looking and LTJ Bukem signed an Alaska & Paradox 12″ for GLR and myself and Nucleus went on to do a further 4 releases for the GLR sub-labels. A few Alaska releases for Subject 13’s Vibez Recordings followed after that and I then released the debut Alaska LP in 2000. Once I recorded the Alaska Virtual Virtuosos album I knew that the Alaska sound was something that I wanted to cement, as Paradox had always been the more popular sound.FULL ARTICLE

Welcome to Discogsa community-built database of music information. Imagine a site with discographies of all labels, all artists, all cross-referenced. It's getting closer every day...

Discogs is a great site where you can check the the value of records you have. I.d. records by cat # and buy and sell rare gems. A must for any record collector so if you're not in the know, get in the know

Saturday, January 10, 2009

The Times newspaper reports the first ecstasy seizures in London. The drug, it says "Is used as a sexual stimulant"

January - Steve 'Silk' Hurley has the first House number 1 with "Jack your Body"

Early summer - Trevor Fung & Ian St Paul open a small bar in San Antonio called the Project (named after a club in London Paul was partially running). it acts as a focal point for young British youth's out for a good time on the island. Taking ecstasy and going to open air clubs like Amnesia where DJ's like Alfredo were playing some of the early house imports.

September - Trevor and Ian invite their friend Paul Oakenfold to Ibiza for his birthday. Paul brings with him Johnny Walker, Nicky Holloway and Danny Rampling. Trevor and Ian close the project bar and they spend the rest of the summer back and forth between Amnesia and Cafe Del Mar.

Autumn - The newly converted Ibiza crew return to London and immediately they feel something has changed. "How can they forget what has happened in Ibiza over the summer". Paul starts to open the original Project club 'after hours'. At 2am when the club officially finished they would let the Ibiza crew in and party until 6am. This lasts only a few weeks until the police raid it.

November - Danny Rampling and Jenni open Klub Sch-oom (soon shortened to Shoom) at a fitness centre near Southwark bridge, just south of the Thames in London. Two weeks later Paul Oakenfold holds the first Future in the backroom of the Heaven, a huge club on London's Charing Cross.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

MC GQ

Since its inception back in the early 90's drum&bass has developed at a drastic rate, yet certain themes and characteristics have remained - The charisma, presence and distinctive sound of MC GQ is one such characteristic MC-ing at the top of the chain for more than 15 years has taken GQ to all the corners of the globe, seen him achieve chart success, and even given him the opportunity to establish his very own record label 'Emcee Recordings'.

Music has been a big part of GQ's life for as long as he can remember: whether he was listening to his Dad's records or tagging along with his brothers soul & funk system, GQ has always been surrounded by music and always keen to be part of it. At school GQ and friend Det (MC) would freestyle along to beats banged out on their desks: but it was watching his neighbour DJ Ron and DJ Hype on the TNT system that influenced him to pick up the mic and it was with his good friend Spoony that he managed to find his own unique sound. These were the solid foundations on which his career was built.

GQ's involvement in music turned professional once good friend Julie Braithwaite introduced him to Acid House in the late 80's. Tunes like Joey Beltram's 'Acid Thunder' and 'Big Fun' got under his skin and over the next two years GQ began to organise a whole host of parties, whilst MC-ing and even DJ-ing at others: from Skitzophrenia at Ilford Palais to the legendary raves at Croland Road, then down to KiKi's in Margate, and back to Clapham Common. Weekends were a string of parties going thru from Friday till Sunday night, rolling with the likes of Frankie Valentine, Rat Pack, Grooverider, Mathew B, Richie Fingers, Frankie Bones, and Tony Trax to mention just a few.

It's important to note that GQ had been in the game for close to five years before jungle let alone drum&bass came about. AWOL was a seminal club in establishing jungle, and it was here that GQ secured a residency at the top of the MC world. Representing alongside DJs such as Mickey Finn, Darren Jay, Randall, Dr S Gachet, Kenny Ken, Fabio, Frost, Grooverider & Ron week in week out, and with the tapes being sold all over the place, the buzz started to build and pandemonium soon followed.

It wasn't long before bookings abroad started flooding in: The AWOL tapes established GQ's name in places he'd never been, and so he was one of the first MCs to work in places as far away as Australia and Toronto. Highlights included playing at the same event as Public Enemy in Toronto with over 5,000 people holding their lighters up; being flown to a rave on an island off the coast of Serbia and a helicopter ride to play to 2,000 people in a warehouse in Australia with Andy C.

GQ has always been a DJ's MC, seeing his role as a middle man between the DJ and the crowd rather than constantly demanding centre stage. His versatility is such that he has always been able to switch up to double time and tear down a rave, or keep the crowd bubbling to a liquid set. 'It's all about reading the crowd, and adapting your style.' This approach has meant that you are as likely to see GQ at One Nation alongside Hype as you are to see him with Goldie at a Metalheadz session. Consistency and adaptability have kept GQ at the top of the MC ranks for 15 years and has made him partner to pretty much all of the top flight DJs.